Well, I've just about got my new aquarium set up and ready for the fish but I've hit a road block. The HOB filter I have is fairly quiet but the cascading water from the unit to the tank keeps me up all night. It sounds like someone pouring water into a glass all night. I have the aquarium filled to the brim and it is still an issue. SoÂthe HOB is not going to work. With advice I was given on the forum and from the pet store "aquarium expert" I was told to put the HOB on a timer to turn off when I went to sleep and come back on in the morning and put an air stone in the tank to create movement at the surface while the HOB was turned off. Now I'm being told by other forum members that isn't a good idea due to the good bacteria dying with the HOB off. I will admit when I woke up this morning with the HOB turned off for the first time overnight that the water appeared a little cloudy. I did sleep better without it on though.

Here is my questionÂ.The HOB will not work for me due to the cascading waterfall effect into the tank. The air stone will not work because with the HOB turned off it will kill beneficial bacteria. What is the solution for my problem? I was told a canister filter would clean the tank well and be almost completely silent. I went to Petco yesterday and looked at them and the are $99.99 (ouch!) and there are none in my area on Craigslist. At this point if the canister filter will fill the bill for what I'm looking for I'll bit the bullet and buy it but I just want to make sure there isn't something else better that I should consider before investing in this. I'm beginning to get agitated because I've been working on this since Monday and thought I'd have it ready for the fish by the weekend. The last thing holding me back is the filter issue and unfortunately if I can't find a solution to my despair I'll have to return everything and forget about my aquarium adventure. ANY help/advice on this would really be appreciated from those of you who have been through this. Thanks!